Two albums on and they're still assembling a uniquely imaginative mythology. [Jul 2011, p.82]

D is a technical tour de force. [Jul 2011, p.89]

Despite several terrific individual tracks, this record ultimately derives its considerable strength from a renewed appreciation of the power of collective identity. [Jul 2011, p.90]

There are moments where the weirdly wonderful pagan pixie princess pokes through. [Jul 2011, p.90]

Nashville is clearly a home away from home, though, as this set from September 2008 proves. [Jul 2011, p.92]

Her aching voice is more lived in than her years suggest. [Jul 2011, p.92]

Pants gas ditched electro-funk in favour of the kind of woozy, nu-gazing reveries crafted by Beach House, Girls and teenage Fantasy. Not that it's all whacked-pout bliss-pop. [Jul 2011, p.93]

A prophetically titled record that does exactly what it promises. [Jul 2011, p.94]

Their fourth album amps up the synths-and-beats side of their new wave Scandi-rock aesthetic, with broadly positive results. [Jul 2011, p.94]

Truly terrific. [Jul 2011, p.96]

His fine fourth album sees him thicken his sound a little, layering jazzy brass and full-blooded surf-rock twangs over austere acoustic foundations. [Jul 2011, p.96]

He appears, so far as it's possible to tell, a competent ukulelist, and his parched baritone remains effective--but this doesn't to understate matters wildly, seems quite the best use of his skills. [Jul 2011, p.96]

Some of the more routine synth-pop cuts lack weight, but the distant echoes of A-Ha's "The Living Daylights" buried within "Musketeer" are wholly endearing. [Jul 2011, p.103]

The multi-ethnic Jessica 6 blend disco, soul, house and melodramatic ballads with both skill and affection. [Jul 2011, p.87]

This injection-moulded pastiche isn't exactly bad, but feels totally pointless. [Jul 2011, p.86]

The 23-track set--material oft-mired in legal entanglements--which range from hit for others, to darkly melodic deep catalogue gems. Diamond himself provides highly entertaining liner notes. [Jul 2011, p.82]

Anyone seeking the funky militancy of The Beatnigs or The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy may be baffled. [Jul 2011, p.82]

Fully realised in its ambition, Bon Iver possesses all the austere beauty and understated emotiveness of its predecessor. [Jul 2011, p.81]

The Donkeys' debut album was impressive enough, but there;s even more to admire in this fine follow-up. [Jul 2011, p.80]

Unique, captivating stuff. [Jul 2011, p.80]

Feeling more airbrushed than lo-fi. [Jul 2011, p.79]

The departure of vocalist Tyondai Braxton appears to have knocked them off stride a little, but they are certainly an ensemble group, and a raft of guests keep things frisky. [Jul 2011, p.77]

There are still touches of the Streolab/Broadcast school of archaic electronics, but Alpers' melodies are now fuller and richer, and texturally Bachelorette brims with contrast. [Jul 2011, p.77]

It's a record that goes a long way toward breathing new life into the busted flush of English indie with a romantic Britpop sound that stands comparisons with The Smiths, The La's and New Order. But in order to complete that leap--and make a record that equals the impact of their first--the lead guitarist needs to give the songwriter a good, hard kick up the arse. [Jul 2011, p.78]

Dengue Fever come on like an art-trash cross between Talking Heads and X, with a crucial side order of B-52's. Their irreverent pop clinches the deal on "Cement Slippers." [Jun 2011, p.80]

It's a long time since a debut album forged its influences into something quite as fresh and rich as this. [May 2011, p.87]

Roadkill Rising, merging generally strong performances with reasonable-quality recordings, manages the thorny task of excerpting some 20-plus concert tapes into a cogent history. [Jun 2011, p.94]

Air Museums doesn't quite have the same freewheeling energy of Moebius and Roedelius' pioneering kosmische, and at time the music seems to hang oppressively in the air rather, instead of questing forward. [Jun 2011, p.91]

Destroyed is up there with his career peaks. [Jun 2011, p.91]

Lollipop is their 13th Studio album, and one of their best. [Jun 2011, p.91]

Their eight album of earnest, limpid lullabies is notable once again for the spangled guitar of long-term collaborator, Ghost's Michio Kurihana. [Jun 2011, p.80]

Her seventh solo album is effectively her third LP of self-penned pop songs, and it suits her bawdy contralto voice rather better. [Jun 2011, p.79]

On Dissolve, his best LP to date, he's gone full colour. [Jun 2011, p.79]

Art Brut's fourth album marries attractively sloppy garage-rock riffing to boozy bad-sex confessionals and bittersweet self-examination. [Jun 2011, p.77]

If there's a tiny problem, it's that such sonic weirdness detracts a little from Del's entertaining rhymes. [Jun 2011, p.80]

Wells adds waves of beauty, and flurries of click-track neurosis to Moffat's dispatches from the fringes of self-disgust. [Jun 2011, p.91]

While the likes of Living It Out are perfecting mutant disco, Rostron's self-consciousness means this expertly produced set suffers from too much quirkiness. [Jun 2011, p.93]

PATP are on no less poppily compelling form with their sophomore LP, but display a new, darkly rocky drive and increased lyrical cynicism. [Jun 2011, p.93]

Cantrell'a sprightly tribute LP is beautifully rendered, her bell-pure voice and the chops of Chris Scruggs, Fats Kaplin and Lambchop's Mark Nevers lending old songs a new, urban sophistication. [May 2011, p.92]

Crucially, though, sardonically strong melodies underpin the, er, shit. [Jun 2011, p.94]

Helplessness Blues is as passionately desolate as anything on Closer, the record which documented Ian Curtis' romantic guilt and existential confusion. [Jun 2011, p.74]

There's little on Heaven And Earth to truly trouble his best work, but throughout there's plentiful evidence of the many qualities which made Martyn so indefinable and influential. [Jun 2011, p.84]

The visionary meditations of John Tavener are a touchstone, and though used sparingly in the film's final cut, this dark, unsettling music stands proudly on its own. [May 2011, p.87]

This agreeable sequel boasts a more coherent country-folk sound, ironing out some of its predecessor's quirky, hand-knitted allure. [May 2011, p.77]

After the intermission of Aerial, could this mark the real beginning of the second act of Kate Bush's brilliant career? Let's hope, like Molly, the answer is "Yes..." [Jun 2011, p.81]

Demolished thoughts is his strongest solo collection to date. [Jun 2011, p.91]

This is the sound of a valuable, extravagantly vital band in full swing. [Jun 2011, p.91]

It's worth getting lost in their groove. [Jun 2011, p.93]

Gimme Some's relentless melodicism arrives with a harder edge than the dreamy naivete that powered "Young Folks," but the results frequently feel just as fine. [Jun 2011, p.93]

This complacent record from long-time drone lover and former Lungfish guitarist Asa Osborne gets the recipe badly wrong. [Jun 2011, p.103]

It's less wacky than their first--if still faintly smart-alecky--and boasts a clutch of impressively efficient, synth-powered indie pop numbers. [Jun 2011, p.103]

Elsewhere the good time roll with tuneful consistency as singer Cameron Omori arranges his affairs of the heart into three-minute teen-dreams called "Dance Away" and "Fallen In Love." [Jun 2011, p.96]

Here, they tinker with the formula slightly, shedding the surf drums, and adding washes of synth (usually a mistake, and so it proves). [Jun 2011, p.94]

The sheer abundance of ideas starts to wear the listener down a little ma few more slow-burners like "Bad News, Strange Luck" wouldn't go a miss. [Jun 2011, p.94]

An immersive blend of the symphonic and electronic, this absorbing album taps into a noble lineage stretching from AR Kane's lysergic avant-pop to sci-fi jazz alchemist Flying Lotus. [Jun 2011, p.94]

It is gleeful and vigorous, full of echoes, pan pipes, samples and shimmering surf guitars. [Jun 2011, p.94]

Fresh from his role as bandleader/producer on Robert Plant's Band Of Joy, Miller has corralled fellow guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Greg Leisz for this fine ensemble project. [Jun 2011, p.92]

You don't need a working knowledge of baseball to appreciate this second installment of true-life sporting tales from Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Linda Pitmon. [Jun 2011, p.92]

Inventive, playful and utterly engrossing, Celebration, Florida has much to revel in. [Jun 2011, p.92]

It is not only Wild Beats' finest album to date, but one of the best you're likely to hear all year. [Jun 2011, p.90]

Like Ill Communication, it's a superbly paced album, its felicitous stylistic juxtapositions the product of judicious cut-and-paste. [Jun 2011, p.89]

It's an album inspired by Camus that's never less than intense. It;s also overwrought, as the taciturn voice and glum lyrics wrestle for space with manically busy strings and an unfortunate folk feel. [Jun 2011, p.87]

Four vocal tracks serve to make the LP more than a masterclass in groove-ology. [Jun 2011, p.87]

Let Them Talk is competent and heartfelt but far from necessary. [Jun 2011, p.87]

Black Sun is subdued and ruminative: snaking around dancehall, grime, hip hop, but holding fast to its own uniqueness. [Jun 2011, p.87]

It's solid stuff. But he's got a way to go to rise above his influences. [Jun 2011, p.86]

Too many songs like "Spiral" lapse into mere pleasantness, but the clockwork body music of tracks like "Middle" and "Lady Luck" is compelling. [Jun 2011, p.86]

Sincere but Hokey homilies test the patience, but she brings imaginative vocal skills and real life experiences to "White Room," which displays a certain determined character. [Jun 2011, p.86]

They rise to each other's challenges surprisingly well, with sinuous lo-fi beats brushing against saxes, woodwinds and vintage synths. [Jun 2011, p.96]

Unquestionably, it is beautifully done. [Jun 2011, p.80]

Somewhat Gothic, but for all its dark corners, this debut gleams with a pop lustre. [Jun 2011, p.77]

Jaar, the son of conceptual artist Alfredo Jaar, can weave a heady spell, presenting himself somewhere between David Byrne and Ricardo Villalobos. [Jun 2011, p.85]

Inspired by the memory of departed friends, it sits midway between Cave's grand guignol, and the sweet hurt of Robert Forster. [Jun 2011, p.85]

The snarling Creedence-style rock is typical, but Golightly also does beautifully as a balladeer on "River Of Tears." [Jun 2011, p.85]

Eye Contact works because its bolshie drum patterns and metallic synth stabs, influenced by Jamaican dancehall and UK bass music, anchor it firmly in the near future, while Lizzie Bougastsos' strong and inventive melodies help make light work of what could come across like a pretentious muddle. [Jun 2011, p.85]

It's largely composed of pretty humdrum strum and twang, defining The Feelies less as the missing link between The Modern Lovers and Vampire Weekend, more as the founders of '80s college rock ordinaire. [Jun 2011, p.82]

They have come remarkably close to achieving the contoured crispness and in-your-face immediacy of their greatest achievement. [Jun 2011, p.79]

This still-teenage quartet writes heady songs that luxuriate in bubbling electronics, lagoon-diving reverb and layered harmonies. [Jun 2011, p.79]

The noise they make is thrilling. [Jun 2011, p.78]

Sickly aspiring novelist turned singer-songwriter Mikel Jollett can knock out a powerful anthem, but his relentless yearning choruses and chiming guitar harmonies ring rather hollow as signifiers of emotion. [Jun 2011, p.77]

Raw in texture but ambitious in scope. [May 2011, p.86]

This follow-up is chillier though no less stately, informed as it is by the recent death of her father. [May 2011, p.96]

It's hard to imagine a less workable hybrid than antifolk and disco pop--respect to Deez, then, for not simply avoiding disaster but also making music of a dangerously infectious nature. [May 201, p.86]

Black Noise was the most seductive techno album of last year, and it probably deserves better than this somewhat perfunctory remix comp. [May 2011, p.93]

The stand-out, though, is the epic "The Little Death (In Five Parts)" which mixes AC/DC pyrotechnics with a sexually charged rhythm section. [May 2011, p.80]

It is, at 78 tracks, quite a meal. But fine work lies within. [May 2011, p.96]

Throughout, his instrument is recorded so close, it practically lassos your ear with its strings. [May 2011, p.94]

On songs like "Ring Of Gold," the Llamas essay a beautifully melancholic take on sunshine pop that's pure and true. [May 2011, p.88]

There's ambition and wit here, and fans of alt.country Texas veterans like The Gourds and Old 97s will find much to admire. [May 2011, p.87]

Caught between Genesis and Crowded House, Guillemots end up careening between Melancholy, bombast and bad verse. [May 2011, p.87]

It would be silly to expect surprises from the Fairports at this late point, and their first album in four years proves as well tended and predictable as a Cotswold village. [May 2011, p.85]

Unfortunately it ends up as the kind of glossily produced "perfect pop" you can spin a dozen times without ever remembering a single tune. [May 2011, p.77]

Cat's Eyes has nice moment's has nice moments, but it makes you realize how much we'll miss Broadcast, who explored similar terrain with more aplomb. [May 2011, p.86]

This largely instrumental album is lush and joyful, roaming and sweeping across the ivories, one to which you can create a dramatic narrative of your own. [May 2011, p.79]

Folk-rock masterpiece of quietly influential Northern miserabilism. [May 2011, p.80]

A Thousand Mazes almost transcends its influences. Almost. [May 2011, p.91]

If Metronomy appeared glib in the past, here you'll find musical and emotional depth. [May 2011, p.91]

Mazes proves that San Franciscan guitarist Ripley Johnson has not musically strayed too far from home. [May 2001, p.93]